L.L. Kirchner's Blog, page 106

The Wrong Way to Practice Yoga

Happy as a clam with the San Mateo Book Club. Yoga!

What? Another post telling me what I’m doing wrong? Not at all. Because here’s the good news: the only wrong way to practice yoga, is not to practice yoga. Don’t have an hour and a half to find your bliss? No problem. Didn’t even make it to your mat today? Still, no problem. That’s right, any kind of yogic practice counts.

Wait, what?

That’s right. I choose to define yoga by the meaning of the word, which is “to yoke” or “union.” My interpretation of this is that I must integrate all aspects of myself in all areas of my life. In other words, who I am teaching is who I am when I’m pissed off at the health insurance company for continuing to bill me incorrectly. Practicing yoga doesn’t mean I’m some kind of milquetoast who takes everything passively because I want peace no matter what the cost. Practicing yoga means I’m able to communicate on behalf of myself, even in difficult situations, without being someone I (or my students) wouldn’t want to know. I don’t succeed at this all the time. And sometimes I fail miserably–guys, I’m still sorry about the Chipotle incident–but practicing yoga enables me to keep making small, consistent effort on this path without striving.

Again, what? How are those things related, your behavior and working out?

For those of us who started working out at a young age (I started by trying to jog with my father when I was 11) , the connection between physical exertion and relative calm is pretty clear and immediate. But yoga has taken this connection a step further for me.

There are many poses I may never do, my anatomy simply won’t allow it. When I step onto my mat and drop into my body, it’s less about the pose than about moving in my body, fully inhabiting my body. The postures can call forth emotional responses–anger, frustration, agitation, sorrow, and, of course, blissful joy. Yet with every few breaths comes another pose, and my reaction might not be the same in the exact same pose another time. Certainly, telling the story of that emotion isn’t useful for deepening the pose, or moving on to the next pose (or, really, anything). Ultimately this observation teaches impermanence, but in the practical, every day world I live in this has a greater value in that it’s enabled me to see the physicality of my emotions. Whereas before I would blindly react to assuage certain feelings in my body I deemed negative, it has become less necessary to do so. For one, I know, every few breaths things will change. My reaction might no be the same. And re-telling the story of that old emotion isn’t useful.

That’s what I try to practice every day, and it just so happens that the quickest way for me to have access to that body wisdom is on my yoga mat. How about you? Has practicing changed how you respond to the world?

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Published on June 06, 2015 09:56

Yoga for “Fat People.” I Get It.

But I Can’t Condone It.

Years ago Mike Albo put out a hysterical video titled, “Yoga for Fat People.” You can’t find that anymore, because now it’s called “Doing Yoga in Brooklyn,” because we’re still allowed to make fun of Brooklyn.

So on the one hand, I’m all for ending fat shaming. I dig the point that’s being made about reclamation of the word “fat,” a la the type of sentiment expressed in this TEDx talk. I’m just not sure that creating yoga studios specifically for the overweight is a terribly wise approach. Can you imagine the backlash a business would face for turning turned people away because their bodies weren’t small enough? Oh wait, you don’t have to imagine. Just think back to this time two years ago when Mike Jeffries was (rightly) pounded for doing just that.

If someone is earnestly following a practice, they will lose weight. It would be a shame to have to change yoga studios because of it, but it’s not the end of the world.

It’s the larger issue that’s been brought out about folks who identify as fat not feeling comfortable in a “regular” yoga studio. If you ask me, THAT’s the problem. On the simplest level, if you’re practicing at a studio where your teacher doesn’t know modifications for your body type–as this article puts forward as a reason to find a fat yoga studio–FIND ANOTHER STUDIO.

The irony is that today my plan was to post about goal setting in yoga. Let me be clear, I’m all for it. And if your goal is to lose weight or have tight abs, I’m okay with that, too. Because the genius of the practice is that it will work on you. It’s not some mystical thing like people try to make it out to be. In fact, research has backed it up. It’s simple, to contort your body you must pay deep attention to it, and the body will reward you for that. Wanting to go deeper is part of the allure. However, my main goal in ANY practice is to make it to the mat tomorrow.

I’m not a fan of the #yogaeverywhere or #stopdropandyoga hashtag craze, because actually, you shouldn’t stop and drop into a pose you’re not warmed up for. This morning I had both my legs behind my head. If I tried to do that right now I’d probably pop a hamstring. Not worth it.

So much of what we see around yoga posts are these ridiculous poses done by teeny tiny blonde practitioners. I realize I kinda fit this mold, so I don’t tend to post “here I am contorting” so much as “here I am failing and having fun so I can get back to the mat tomorrow” shots. Like this!

Here’s the main reason I’m not a fan of this idea, some of my strongest students have been big people. One of my favorite yogis on Instagram is fitqueenirene, and she is not small. I don’t want to see anyone avoid the practice because they think it’s for skinny people only. But is it really harmful to be around people who are different from you? Isn’t that some new, weird kind of phobia? One of the reasons I love going to class is that I get energy and inspiration from people in the class. You should be going to a studio that encourages every star in the room to shine.

Wouldn’t this be a dull world if we were all the same?

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Published on April 17, 2015 09:25

The Wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita is in Every Yoga Class

The Bhagavad Gita is a famous Hindu scripture that recounts a conversation between the legendary warrior Arjuna and his charioteer, the god Krishna. Arjuna is to head into battle, but he doesn’t want to go. Krishna is his guide, teaching him the definition of yoga along the way.

Typically seen as a metaphor for the ongoing dialog between the small self, the ego, and the higher self, our God consciousness, the Gita hinges around four lessons:

1. Listen

2. When you have your instruction, go!

3. Don’t be attached to outcomes

4. Make it all an offering

The beautiful in this text is that our contemporary asana practice gives us the opportunity to fulfill these ancient lessons. The greatest hindrance we have is self-doubt. Our self-doubt would have us believe that what it supposedly wrong with us is unique, terminal, and/or the worst. Interestingly enough, the lie is the same for us all.

It is our duty to find the voice of Krishna wherever we can, tune into it and rise above our self doubt. Every time I hit my yoga mat, this is true. If your teacher is not calling this forth from you and your practice, find a teacher that does.

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Published on April 07, 2015 14:23

Spring Has Sprung! Get Back To That Yoga Mat!

All of nature is stirring back to life after the winter sleep. The sun is increasing in power, and we, too, can tap into newfound inner strength to reach out for what we want, take risks, or find the courage to try again.

Your yoga practice is an ideal way to harness the potential and fertility of this time, because the practice asks you to call upon your highest intentions, and that sets in motion positive change in your life and in the world around you.

If you can find one, try a tantra class. Tantra is about balancing masculine and feminine energy in the body, and spring is the perfect time to do it. In the same way that the season is poised between opposite forces, light and dark, receptive and active, tantra practices bring these forces forward–the unconscious and conscious, the subtle and the coarse. The purpose is to unite the various parts of ourselves so we can be whole and balanced individuals. And this is what gives birth to actions that come from the heart.

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Tantra: a simple practice!

Visualize the chakras in the body. The easiest way to do this is to imagine the colors of a rainbow, stacked in order, beginning with red at the base and moving up through the body to the crown of the head. Set each ball spinning in turn until the colors meld and shoot out through the crown of the head as bright white light. The thousand points of light you may have heard of is actually a lotus flower that sits atop your head.

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Published on March 20, 2015 18:16

So this happened…

I was immensely honored to be on national TV talking about *drumroll, please* … a BOOK! Specifically, my book! Thank you, “Daytime,” so much for caring enough about art to put it on TV!

Support books on TV. Check out the clip and let me know what you think.

Lisa Kirchner on NBC

http://www.wfla.com/story/28355933/da...

Daytime Hello American Lady Creature

Journalist Lisa Kirchner moved to Qatar hoping it would change everything. Until it did. She’s written a book about what it was like to go through a divorce in the Persian Gulf, and how that profou…

More info @ http://ift.tt/1Ag21aZ

Automated post from Lisa Kirchner – http://ift.tt/1BfV8vm

March 11, 2015 at 12:15PM

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